Wednesday, 22 February 2017

Rescue crews take out
residents from a flooded neighborhood Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017, in San
Jose, Calif. Rescuers chest-deep in water steered boats carrying dozens
of people, some with babies and pets, from a San Jose neighborhood
inundated by water from an overflowing creek Tuesday.: photo by Marcio
Jose Sanchez/AP, 21 February 2017

People attend a protest
Monday, Feb. 20, 2017, in Portland, Ore. Thousands of demonstrators
turned out Monday across the U.S. to challenge President Donald Trump in
a Presidents Day protest dubbed Not My President's Day.: photo by Dave
Killen/The Oregonian via AP, 20 February 2017

People attend a protest
Monday, Feb. 20, 2017, in Portland, Ore. Thousands of demonstrators
turned out Monday across the U.S. to challenge President Donald Trump in
a Presidents Day protest dubbed Not My President's Day.: photo by Dave
Killen/The Oregonian via AP, 20 February 2017

@realDonaldTrump
talks with Special asst. Omarosa Manigault during a visit to the
National Museum of African American History in Washington: image via Doug Mills Verified account @dougmillsnyt, 21 February 2017

On Tokenism, and Trump’s Jewish Make-Up Photo at the African American Museum: Reading The Pictures, 21 February 2017

I’m shocked but not surprised by this photograph posted on Instagram
by that otherwise fake news outlet, CNN. It records how Donald Trump was dispatched
to the African-American Museum, script in hand, his liberally
self-conscious daughter of the faith literally behind him, as a
thoroughly heavy-handed gesture to make up for his screaming deafness lately (Jews died too? I heard your question! ) to anti-Semitism.

So why not take a dog-and-pony-show to the Holocaust Museum?

What with Trump’s dismal standing with African-Americans and even
more to make up for, this venue was apparently the perfect “twofer.”
(You remember that Trump was scheduled to visit the National
African-American Museum of History and Culture for the first time on MLK
day, but that photo-op was scotched at the last minute after Trump got
into a little boy spat with John Lewis for reducing his crowd count by one at the inauguration.)

The conduct of this photo is horribly revealing. Trump, buddied up
with his completely unqualified, but loyal and visually perfect
showpiece, the HUD secretary, parks himself in front of a display of
that self-same secretary’s doctor’s coat. Unfortunately for civil
rights, and American Jews and blacks specifically here, there is no
difference in Trump’s mind (apologies to Pavlov) between meaning and
gesture, thought and appearance, or between actual and
perceived importance. No, it’s all tokenism.

This self-inflicted injury is more stupidly simple than that though.
What we have here is the most blasphemous depiction so far of the Trump
family’s core nature. In its Grand Canyon-sized blindspot for history,
sensitivity, empathy or humility (two thumbs up, yo!), Trump turns this
moment and the African-American Museum of History and Culture itself
into the same thing it converts every shred of real estate into. That
is, a visual background, the latest branding opportunity, and a shrine
to Trump’s rampant egotism. As for the very incredible Dr. Ben Carson,
what the photo also depicts (as well-documented elsewhere) is that he worships at the same temple.

(photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty via CNNPolitics/Instagram. caption:
President Donald Trump visits the National African American Museum of
History and Culture on Tuesday in light of #BlackHistoryMonth. Here,
Trump poses with his daughter Ivanka Trump, Housing and Urban
Development nominee Ben Carson and his wife, Candy Carson, in front of
the museum’s Ben Carson exhibit.)

The
so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are
actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!Dave Weigel Retweeted Donald J. TrumpDave Weigel added,The First Amendment is pretty clear: It's not a legitimate protest if people spend some time organizing it.

Grassley
says the protests are not AstroTurf. "It's all legitimate. If Hillary
Clinton had won you'd see the same thing from other people.": tweet via Dave Weigel Verified account @DaveWeigel, 21 February 2017

Town hall questioner asks about impeachment; Grassley says it would
start in the House and he can't prejudice it by giving his take now.: tweet via Dave Weigel Verified account @DaveWeigel, 21 February 2017

@POTUS announces H.R. McMaster as his new national security advisor, from the living room of Mar-a-lago as soft Muzak played overhead: image via Mike Memoli Verified account @mikememoli, 20 February 2017

Pruitt's 1st agency mtg @EPA. Want to say WH gets by on stagecraft over statecraft, but not even good at that. #rabbitfromhat @GettyImages: image via Reading The Pictures @Reading ThePix, 21 February 2017

Welcome recourse to one party rule? Or, are the days of citizen’s feedback numbered? @petersonpixs Va Congressman @scottaylorva townhall: image via reading The Pictures @Reading ThePix, 21 February 2017

A month after the inaugural, closures out front of the White House are still in place.: image via Steve Holland Verified account @steveholland1, 2i February 2017

Gabi Ben avraham: After Party

[Untitled, Tel Aviv]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 20 October 2016

[Untitled]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 16 October 2016

Puzzle #1: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 8 October 2016

[Untitled, Tel Aviv]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 10 February 2017

[Untitled, Tel Aviv]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 30 December 2016

[Untitled, Tel Aviv]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 3 October 2016

[Untitled, Jerusalem]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 14 January 2017

[Untitled]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 6 January 2017

[Untitled]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 9 December 2016

[Untitled]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 24 March 2016

After Party: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 24 March 2016

[Untitled]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 24 March 2016

[Untitled]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 10 October 2016

[Untitled]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 10 October 2016

[Untitled]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 30 September 2016

[Untitled]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 18 November 2016

[Untitled, Brussels]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 30 October 2016

[Untitled]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 30 March 2016

[Untitled]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 30 October 2016

[Untitled, Tel Aviv]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 24 December 2016

[Untitled]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 9 December 2016

[Untitled, Jerusalem]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 10 December 2016

[Untitled]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 23 October 2016

[Untitled]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 27 August 2016

[Untitled, Tel Aviv]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 24 March 2016

[Untitled, Tel Aviv]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 2 October 2016

[Untitled, Tel Aviv]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 9 September 2016

[Untitled, Tel Aviv]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 9 September 2016

[Untitled, Tel Aviv]: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 30 September 2016

After After Party

Kashmiris
peel the bark off wicker sticks on the outskirts of Srinagar, India,
the largest city in the Kashmir Valley. The sticks are used to make
traditional fire pots for warmth: photo by Farooq Khan/European Pressphoto Agency, 22 December 2015

Kashmiris
peel the bark off wicker sticks on the outskirts of Srinagar, India,
the largest city in the Kashmir Valley. The sticks are used to make
traditional fire pots for warmth: photo by Farooq Khan/European Pressphoto Agency, 22 December 2015

A Kashmiri Muslim woman peels off the bark of wicker sticks on the
outskirts of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, on Tuesday.
Wicker sticks are used to make Kangir, the traditional Kashmiri
firepot, which is used to keep warm during cold winters: photo by Farooq Khan/EPA, 21 December 2015

A Kashmiri Muslim woman peels off the bark of wicker sticks on the
outskirts of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, on Tuesday.
Wicker sticks are used to make Kangir, the traditional Kashmiri
firepot, which is used to keep warm during cold winters: photo by Farooq Khan/EPA, 21 December 2015

Kashmiri Muslim women wail as they watch the funeral procession of
suspected rebels, at Barhama, 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of
Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday: photo by Mukhtar Khan/AP, 5 October 2015

Kashmiri Muslim women wail as they watch the funeral procession of
suspected rebels, at Barhama, 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of
Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday: photo by Mukhtar Khan/AP, 5 October 2015

Palestinians in Nablus, West
Bank, carry the body of Maram Hassouna, who was killed this month
while allegedly trying to stab an Israeli soldier: photo by Alaa Badarneh/European Pressphoto Agency, 21 December 2015

Palestinians in Nablus, West
Bank, carry the body of Maram Hassouna, who was killed this month
while allegedly trying to stab an Israeli soldier: photo by Alaa Badarneh/European Pressphoto Agency, 21 December 2015

An Israeli border policeman uses pepper spray on a Palestinian man
during clashes near the Arab East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Wadi
al-Joz, on Friday: photo by Ammar Awad/Reuters, 2 October 2015

An Israeli border policeman uses pepper spray on a Palestinian man
during clashes near the Arab East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Wadi
al-Joz, on Friday: photo by Ammar Awad/Reuters, 2 October 2015

AFP Israeli photographer Menahem Kahana is roughed up by by an Israeli policeman at a demonstration. By @TomCOEX #AFP: image by AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 4 October 2015

A Palestinian boy sleeps on a mattress inside the remains of his
family’s house, that was destroyed by Israeli shelling during a 50-day
war in 2014 summer, during a sandstorm in Gaza on Tuesday: photo by Suhaib Salem/Reuters, 8 September 2015A Palestinian boy sleeps on a mattress inside the remains of his
family’s house, that was destroyed by Israeli shelling during a 50-day
war in 2014 summer, during a sandstorm in Gaza on Tuesday: photo by Suhaib Salem/Reuters, 8 September 2015

People at a beach near Sydney during the Labour Day holiday in Australia: photo by Peter Parks/Agence France-Presse, 6 October 2015People at a beach near Sydney during the Labour Day holiday in Australia: photo by Peter Parks/Agence France-Presse, 6 October 2015

[Untitled, Bangladesh]: photo by asad zaman, 14 January 2017

[Untitled, Bangladesh]: photo by asad zaman, 14 January 2017

[Untitled, Bangladesh]: photo by asad zaman, 14 January 2017

journey
by train! (Bangladesh]. Thousands of devoted Muslims going to
participate in the second largest Islamic Congregation known as "Bishwa
Itjema" at Tongi, Bangladesh.: photo by Ashik Mahmud, 4 November 2016

journey
by train! (Bangladesh]. Thousands of devoted Muslims going to
participate in the second largest Islamic Congregation known as "Bishwa
Itjema" at Tongi, Bangladesh.: photo by Ashik Mahmud, 4 November 2016

journey
by train! (Bangladesh]. Thousands of devoted Muslims going to
participate in the second largest Islamic Congregation known as "Bishwa
Itjema" at Tongi, Bangladesh.: photo by Ashik Mahmud, 4 November 2016

Muslim devotees climb aboard trains to the World Islamic Congregation at Tongi, north of Dhaka, Bangladesh: photo by AP, 15 January 2016